3 Reasons You Need To Stop Following Me

This has been a lot of fun this Ultimate Blog Party.

It has.

I have found some really fun blogs (which I will post about later) and have met some new friends (yay! Shout out to BK: great comments!)

Ummm....my readership has gone up to 40 followers.

It doubled.

In 5 days.

And I'm kinda freaking out.

Here's why:

I comment back to everyone who follows me and to those who comment my posts. (If I haven't got to you yet, don't worry, I will).

I take my blog seriously in that I want to build friendships with people. I don't do "acquaintances". I develop relationships with people.

It's why I follow Brambleberry Grace and Jesus. Women. Words. These women impact me and I want to get to know them.

Now, I know how this whole party thing works. It's like swapping business cards. We exchange cards and hope that we contact each other in the future. And many times it's just dropped into a rolodex and only glimpsed at occasionally because it happens to be hidden behind the card for the Chinese Take-Out place that is used most often.

I don't want to become that kind of card...er, blog.

And neither do you, right? (maybe not. I could be wrong, it happened to me once before)

Here's the thing. I don't follow for the sake of following.

I have only immediately followed a handful of people and that is usually because I spent a while on their blog reading other posts.

I usually wait 4 weeks before following a blog--just to see if it's something I want to invest my time into. (And if you want to know how seriously I take my time, then please read my post: A guide to staying off your blog)

Maybe I'm having a hard time believing that so many want to read what I have to say, but I mean...truly...do you???

Now you are free to do as you choose but before you follow me, you might want to consider the following:

3 Reasons You Need to Stop Following Me

1. You don't really plan on reading me. You only hit follow 'cause you were in the party mood.

It's ok. You can remove yourself. We all do crazy things at a party some time and I have done some silly things myself.

2. You are hoping I will be reciprocal and follow and boost your numbers. Won't happen. Sorry 'bout that.

3. You collect blog friends, like you collect Facebook friends. I detest Facebook (read here) and I don't want to be remotely associated with those habits!

Well, there you have it. With the complete potential that I've insulted you and your competency.

I realize this is probably counter blog culture, but I guess the truth is...I want to journey with people, not just be another name on a list. I have always desired to be set apart.

So, please don't follow me unless you really mean to.

And I mean REALLY mean to.

It's ok to unsubscribe yourself. I haven't written down a list of names of who is following me and if I see your name disappear I won't be showing up to write mean comments on your blog.

Scouts honour.

This post feels a little bit like a mother walking in to announce that it's time to clean up the tea party and put the dolls away...but every party needs a pooper!

Consider yourself introduced to this party's pooper.

A guide to staying off your blog...

...and having a life!

I am not on the internet very much, and yet I have a blog--isn't that a paradox? No, no it's not. But let me tell you the tricks that I use to get lots done on the net and still have a life-maybe some will work for you.

1. Ditch the H1FacebookN1 virus- I think I've made it clear that I dislike Face*book. I know that for some this is a great tool for you, blah, blah,blah.

Here's my beef with FB, I actually think it lulls people into a false sense of relationship with one another. If you want a real friendship with someone, have them over to your house. (yeah, yeah I know...what if they live in Africa? Get a calling card.)

Real relationship is built up over time spent together, memories made and conflicts being resolved. (I also think that conflict is the catalyst for deeper relationship if handled properly, but that's a post for another day). Ditch Facebook if you are on it more than once a day and redeem the time!

2. Put a Time Limit On It- I love being a wife and mom. It's where I want to focus the majority of my time. But I'm easily distracted. (Anybody remember the time where all I did was post what I saw on youtube???!?!) So, time limit's work well for me. I have an hour and a half a day to do my computer stuff. And it's between the hours of 5 am and 7 pm. Once it's 7 pm, I am done with the internet world and on to more important things like hanging out with my husband.

3. Work the Time Limit- Here's the power of pressure. I know I only have an hour and a half and it forces me to be efficient. Often times, I am done all my blog, homeschool searching, emails, etc. within 45-50 minutes. Frees me up to make water xylophones with my kids orbake smooshed cookies.

4. Priorities, Priorities, Priorities-My family is my priority. Making my home a safe haven for memory-making, mistakes and laughter is extremely important to me. Instilling the values and the truth of Jesus is priority numero uno. When answering emails, looking at blogs, I ask myself, "How does this contribute to my family's goals? Does this build me up spiritually? Could I be having fun with my kids right now instead of reading up on macrame?" Knowing my priorities let's me be selective and productive on the internet.

5. Splurge-Internet killed the video star. People can spend hours on the internet in total amusement and caught up in eye candy, the same way people were glued to the TV tube a generation ago. Sometimes it's ok to splurge and take an evening and get caught up on blogs, and surf around and look for random things that you type into google just to be goofy. Every once in a while I get on the net for a few hours and let loose. But don't make it a lifestyle. Make it a splurge! A random occurence! Something you do now and then! Someth--you get the picture.

There you have it! This is what I do to make the most of my time on the internet and still have a life.

What do you do?